1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a fuel pump module and, more particularly, to a fuel pump module, in which an in-tank filter and a fuel pump are installed at respective locations and held by a pump retainer, thereby allowing fuel to easily flow in the fuel pump module and realizing smallness and improved filtering performance of the fuel pump module.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a vehicle operated by an internal combustion engine using liquid fuel, such as a gasoline engine or a diesel engine, is provided with a fuel tank for storing fuel. In the vehicle, a fuel pump module is installed in the fuel tank to forcibly feed the fuel stored in the fuel tank to the internal combustion engine.
Foreign substances present in the fuel may have bad effects on the atmospheric air, so that, in an effort to remove the foreign substances from the fuel before the fuel reaches the internal combustion engine, a filter is provided in a fuel supply line at a location inside or outside the fuel pump module.
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the environment, the restriction of vehicle exhaust gases is becoming strict, and a filter-embedded fuel pump module having improved filtering performance is attracting attention.
An example of conventional filter-embedded fuel pump modules is shown in FIGS. 1 through 3.
As shown in FIGS. 1 through 3, the fuel pump module 1 comprises a flange assembly 10 mounted to a fuel tank and a reservoir body assembly 20 connected to the flange assembly 10 by guide rods 30 at a location below the flange assembly 10.
The reservoir body assembly 20 includes a reservoir casing 21, a fuel pump 23 installed in the reservoir casing 21 and pumping the fuel stored in a fuel tank into the reservoir casing 21, and an in-tank filter 22 installed in the reservoir casing 21 and filtering the inlet fuel pumped by the fuel pump. The top end of the in-tank filter 22 is connected to the flange assembly 10 by a connection hose 40 and feeds the filtered fuel to the flange assembly 10 which supplies the filtered fuel to an internal combustion engine.
Here, in the reservoir body assembly 20, the fuel pump 23 is placed in the center of the assembly 20 and the in-tank filter 22 surrounds the fuel pump 23.
Described in detail, the in-tank filter 22 comprises: an upper casing 25, which is assembled with the reservoir casing 21 and thereby closes the top of the reservoir body assembly 20 and is hollowed to define a space therein for receiving the fuel pump 23 in the space, and is open in the lower end thereof so as to surround the fuel pump 23 and to receive a filtering sheet 24 therein through the open lower end; and a lower casing 26 which closes the lower part of the upper casing 25 except for the space receiving the fuel pump 23, wherein the upper casing 25 is provided with a fuel inlet part 27, which is connected to the fuel pump 23 for receiving the fuel pumped by the fuel pump 23, and a fuel discharging port 28 which is connected to the connection hose 40 and discharges the fuel that passed through the in-tank filter 22 so as to supply the fuel to the internal combustion engine.
However, in the fuel pump module 1, the fuel pump 23 and the in-tank filter 22 are provided in the inside and outside parts and have respective diameters larger than predetermined diameters, respectively, thus increasing the size of the fuel pump module. Thus, it is not easy to mount the large-sized fuel pump module 1 to the fuel tank.
In the fuel pump module 1, the fuel will flow as follows. As shown in FIG. 3, the fuel introduced into the fuel pump 23 flows through the fuel inlet part 27 of the in-tank filter 22 and is filtered by the filtering sheet. The fuel filtered by the filter sheet is supplied to the internal combustion engine sequentially through the fuel discharging port 28, the connection hose 40, the flange assembly 10 and a fuel supply line.
However, in the fuel pump module 1, the fuel discharging port 28 of the in-tank filter 22 is provided in a region in which the filtering sheet 24 is vertically installed, so that the fuel pump module 1 is problematic in that the fuel cannot be easily supplied to the engine.
Further, as time goes by, the filtering performance of the filtering sheet of the in-tank filter 22 deteriorates and the in-tank filter must be replaced by a new one, so that it is required to provide an improved design of a fuel pump module which can realize improved filtering performance and can increase the life span of the in-tank filter 22.